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In this edition:
Potato ice cream???
Plant based dairy products are now a $30billion global industry. But the products go beyond milk into yoghurts, cheese, cultured products, and ice cream!
So, when Otago Polytechnic culinary student Emily Gilbert was researching waste-reducing ideas for a class brief, the second-year student discovered the Swedish potato-based plant milk DUG, and then developed her own chocolate milk version, reusing food waste from the Heartland potato chip factory in Timaru.
After making a pivot to ice cream she brought a sample to Patti’s and Cream owner Olive Tabor, who agreed to collaborate after praising its near-dairy texture.
The result is Mud (a blend of milk and spud), a dark-chocolate potato-milk ice cream rippled with chocolate sauce and studded with chocolate-coated Heartland Salt & Vinegar chip clusters, extending the project’s reuse of chip-factory offcuts.
The dairy-free, low-FODMAP treat went on sale this week at Patti’s and Cream’s two Dunedin stores, with an initial 60-litre batch.
Since its launch, the potato ice cream has received national attention on Stuff, One News and other media outlets. Emily is looking for the next products in her range including different flavours and milkshake bases.
The great (reuse) space race
Although there is much debate about mankind’s exploration of space, given the current state of the environment on Earth, it is unlikely for this exploration to slow down any time soon. However, the biggest revolution in the space industry in the last decades has been the increased focus on reuse of all parts of space transportation and propulsion.
For the last decade SpaceX has been delivering on reuse within the space industry, not just in the capsules and manned components, but on traditional expendable booster components. In late August, one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Boosters made its 30th successful launch and return to Earth – the highest milestone for any of this booster type. The company first made a controlled entry of the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage in September 2013, during the first flight of version 1.1 of the vehicle. This proved the viability of the concept of supersonic retropropulsion, which was, until that time, just theoretical. By December 2015, SpaceX had landed its first rocket on a pad along the Florida coast. The first drone ship landing followed in April 2016. A little less than a year after this, SpaceX re-flew a Falcon 9 stage for the first time.
However, SpaceX may not be alone in the reuse space field for long. China is preparing for its first attempt to land a rocket stage after an orbital launch, following years of development and testing.
The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and commercial launch service provider Landspace both recently made progress with testing of their respective Long March 12A and Zhuque-3 rockets that make debut test flights possible before the end of the year. Another commercial firm, iSpace, earlier this month unveiled the country’s first automated drone recovery ship. It is designed to recover the first stage of its Hyperbola-3 rocket, but can be utilized by other launchers.
A number of other commercial outfits are developing rockets with reusable first stages, with the timeline for test flights less clear, but also possible in the near future. These include Galactic Energy’s Pallas-1, Nebula-1 from Deep Blue Aerospace, Gravity-2 from Orienspace and Tianlong-3 from Space Pioneer. CASC also has further reusability plans.
Mug.Cycle
Simon Edmonds is the brain behind Mug.Cycle, a reusable cup sharing system that brings rescued mugs to a variety of a cafes and locations in the central city, so people can ditch their single-use cups in favour of a real mug.
“We have a large stock of second-hand mugs donated from the Wellington City Council Tip Shop. These are washed and sterilised by FillGood at the Sky Stadium, and then stored in a lockup near Frank Kitts Park. These are then delivered by bike trailers to the Harbourside Market.
“People can choose a real cup instead of a throwaway one as we have three stands and drop off boxes which are located next to the three market coffee vendors. We also offer mugs and our stands at events and cafes for hire.”
The purpose of this is simple, explains Simon. People can pick up a mug and then return it to the stand to be cleaned.
“It gives Wellingtonians another option if they forget their reusable cup. It also reduces litter and landfill waste as single use cups are responsible for significantly more waste and climate emissions than just using a real cup. As we use rescued mugs it is also making use of an existing resource that would have otherwise ended up in the landfill.”
Many Wellingtonians have been making the most of Mug.Cycle at the Harbourside Market, and it’s become a permanent fixture there. Simon says he is overwhelmed by the support.
“It’s been great spending more time at the Harbourside market and getting to know the vendors, I’ve been buoyed by the number of positive comments and support we have had from vendors and visitors alike.”
Mug.Cycle was able to take off thanks to the Wellington City Council Waste Minimisation Seed Fund.
Great reuse articles and reports
To shine a light on some great reuse in the media – check out the links below:
The reuse blog, We Choose Reuse, brings you stories from the frontlines of reuse, in the hope it provides inspiration to others. We will be publishing this blog on a quarterly basis so send any reuse initiatives to fiona@wasteminz.org.nz to be included in the next one.
This blog is proudly brought to you by the WasteMINZ Reuse Working Group. The Reuse Working Group is an initiative of the Product Stewardship Sector Group but is supported by other WasteMINZ sector groups. Its main purpose is to raise the profile of reuse and make it more talked about than recycling.
